Multi-track Recording Software, Software that is simple and works in OSX Options

[Dadoo]

I'm just getting into the fascinating world of digital music recording. My wife and I play music together for small and large group things. I would like to be able to add some fullness to our sound by creating our own accompaniment CD's so that we can play along with a "full band", so to speak.

I just got the M-Audio Audiophile USB and it came with a "lite" version of Ableton DELTA Live. I've played around with it some and have recorded a couple of things. I find it rather complicated for what I'm doing, as I think it is more of a looping/sequencing instrument that just happens to have recording capabilities. I also find it frustrating to get sound consistently in and out of the program as I seem to have to quit and restart the program for it to recognize that I have an audio input for it. But this may be beside the point because I think it is not the right program for what I want to do.

I have hear a little about a shareware program for OS X called Jasmine. I see that I can download a demo of it. Does anyone have any experience with this program? Basically what I want to do is to plug in my bass, guitar, keyboard, drum machine, maybe some backing vocals, and record them on different tracks and then make them into an AIFF file that can be burned onto a CD. I want it to be simple and able to produce good digital quality sound. Will Jasmine work for me? Is there another simple and basic program that works in OS X that I should look at?

I'm doing my recording on a 600 MHz iMac, running OS 10.2.8, with 512 MB of RAM.

Thanks for your replies. I know I have much to learn!

[braj]

In my other Topic, which is actually a poll, Metro 6 SE is ahead so far in votes. Is it really that good? To me it seems to have quite a few features, but looks quite cumbersome to use and is for OS 9 and OS X, and some features work in one and not the other. Tracktion looks easier to use and is made only for OS X. Intuem 2.1 looks easy to use, like Tractkion, seems to have a good interface, and also is able to convert MIDI tracks to audio (which I don't think Metro or Tracktion can do).

Metro is powerful, but cumbersome, and the SE version is intentionally crippled with limitations (only one software synth besides Soundfonts -or- 3 effects). Traction doesn't have this limitation and is way easier to use.

Intuem has terrible support. I was considering it, but they never responded to several e-mails and there is no user community.

Tracktion has a good community with forums hosted at here. Really, this would be your best choice. The code base is multiplatform, newer than Metro, and the recent relationship with Mackie means it is growing into a real pro app. $80 for the full version compared to $69 for Metro SE's crippleware, or $80 for Intuem's lack of support and deep featureset. Really, there is no reasonable comparison. Tracktion is the best value.

Tracktion can convert Midi to audio (freeze to use later as midi or render to audio). It is much more flexible than Intuem by comparison, which only converts to audio.

I would say this: a lot of Mac users are more familiar with Metro since it has been on the Mac for a long time, so it's no surprise it won in your poll. If I hadn't discovered Tracktion, I would likely agree. What Metro SE is really good for is a GM sequencer, to open .mid files and remix them, or to create tracks specifically for later use in another sequencer or for distributing on the web to be played by Quicktime. There is plenty to like, but if you want to do more than just use GM sounds, it starts to get too complicated for efficient use, IMO. Since it isn't widely used in pro situations, I don't think it is worth investing the time to 'figure out'. IO spent plenty of time on the Metro forums and help files trying to figure out things that are easy as can be in Tracktion.